The strange little girl, a story for children

HE

STRANGE

LITTLE

GIRL

A Story
for Children

r,v.v. M.

The Aryan Theosophical Press
Point I oma, Calif oinia, U. S. A.

Hearst Fountain

IN THE; GARDEN OF BOUGHT

The Strange
Little Girl

A Story for
Children

By V. M.

Illustrations by N. Roth

^Jryan ^heosophical 'Press
'Point Loma, California

COPYRIGHT 1911, BY KATHERINE TINGLEY

THE ARYAN THEOSOPHICAL PRESS
Point Loma, California

THE STRANGE LITTLE GIRL

. rCJ}£S

The Strange Little Girl

i

NCE upon a time there was a
beautiful palace where the king's
children lived as happily as they
alone can live. They never want
ed anything and they never knew
that there could be others who were not as
happy as they. Sometimes, it is true, they
would hear a story which would make them
almost think that perhaps there was a world
beyond, which they did not know, outside
the palace of the king and its gardens, but
something would seem to say that after all
it was only a fairy story, and they would
forget that it meant anything that might
really be true.

'2 \,-tfis ^TRANCE LITTLE GIRL

v "One • "of -the little princesses seemed to
think more of these stories of a world be
yond the palace garden than the others, and
she would sometimes find herself gazing at
the sun, and wondering if the great world
lay beyond the purple forests where the
golden-edged clouds shone like dark moun
tains in the distance. And the name of this
princess was Eline.

More and more as she thought of these
things she felt sure that there must be a
world where things were very different
from the happy life in the palace garden ;
and in the stories which the children heard
she thought of many things, which, with the
others, she used to pass by without notice.
Once they used to hear of no sorrow, no
pain, but only joy and peace. Now, in think
ing, she sometimes noticed that there were
things which were not spoken; that there
were things passed by in silence; that there
were things which travelers passing through
the palace kept back, as though they knew

THE STRANGE LITTLE GIRL 3

of much which the children must not know,
and yet which they would have told had
they dared.

Questions Eline asked, and the answers
seldom satisfied her, for they never seemed
to tell her everything. Every time one of
the travelers left the palace to return on his
journey there seemed to be a look of appeal
in his eyes, an appeal which only Eline
seemed to see, and which made her wish to
follow them for the very love that shone in
the kind faces of these strangers — stran
gers who told the children stories of things
they loved — of wonderful fairy worlds
where they were not as in the palace; of
worlds where Eline seemed to have traveled
many times, long, long ago.

One day she asked her father, the king:

" Shall I never go out of the palace, never
leave the garden of delight and see the world
that lies beyond the cloud-mountains, beyond
the sunset and the whispering forests ? "

4 THE STRANGE LITTLE GIRL

And the king looked intently at Eline.

" These are strange fancies," he said.
"Are you not happy here in the garden ? "

' Yes, I am happy," she said, " happier
than I can tell. But you have not answered
me. Is there not a world beyond? Shall I
ever see it? "

" Some traveler must have been telling
you forbidden tales/' said the king. " These
things I have said may not be spoken in my
garden."

" No traveler has told me/' said Eline.
" I have seen them looking as though they
would tell me, but could not, of things be
yond the garden, beyond the palace. I have
asked them, and they have told me nothing.
Yet I have felt that I long to go with them.
I have felt that I remember strange places,
strange sights, things I know not here, when
they speak. Sometimes, even, it seems that
I hear a voice like my own repeating a
promise — a promise unfulfilled that must

THE STRANGE LITTLE GIRL 5

be kept. ' I will return ! I will ! I will ! '
it says. And I hear voices calling in the
wind, in the rustling of the leaves, and in
the silence of the day, ' Come back ! Come
back ! ' And the birds say, ' Come ! ' The
pines whisper to me strange things, and the
laughing water in the brooks says ' Come ! '
What does it mean ? "

" I cannot tell you here," said the king.
" But why do you wish to leave the palace?
You are yet young and there are many,
many years of happiness before you. You
may stay in the palace where all things are
good, and put these things out of mind.
There is another world, but not for you —
yet!"

Eline was troubled, or would have been
had such a thing been possible in the palace
of the king.

" May I ever see that land ? May I ever
leave the palace? "

" The children of the king are free to

6 THE STRANGE LITTLE GIRL

come and go," he said. " I may not keep
them if they will not stay; for I know that
they will come again."

II

Again a traveler came to the palace. He
brought with him a harp of seven strings,
on which he played to the children. He
sang to them for a while and then for a
space was silent. Eline listened to the
strange, beautiful music. And to her it
seemed that there was speech in the harp
— that it spoke. The other children seemed
to listen to the music, but to them it did not
seem to speak. To Eline there were echoes
of wonderful things the palace knew not;
things that the language of the king could
not tell. The harp spoke in a way that the
Princess Eline knew and understood, al
though there were no words in its tones.

" I WILL RETURN "

THE STRANGE LITTLE GIRL 9

There were sad and sorrowful notes that
told of sorrows the palace never knew.
There were strains of music that sounded
harsh to the listening ear, though to the
careless they told of happiness alone. And
as she listened, Eline dreamed. Clearer and
more clear she felt that the harp told of a
world of men where sorrow and sadness and
strife were not unknown ; where joy should
be, and was not; where the people groped
their way through darkness and thought it
light. " Return ! Return ! " called the harp.

And a mighty resolve came to Eline. " I
will return! I will! I will!"

She remembered the king's saying : " The
children of the king are free to come and
go/' he had said. " I may not keep them
if they will not stay," he had told her.

She loved him much; but the call came
clear, and she dared not seek him to say
farewell, lest she should be persuaded to
remain.

10 THE STRANGE LITTLE GIRL

She bowed her head and to the harper
spoke :

" I will go," she said. " I will return
with you.''

Then the harp sent forth such a melody
of joyous music that it echoed thrilling
through the hot discordant notes of the
world beyond the sunset ; and for a moment
a chord of harmony ran through the life
of men:

"Joy unto you, men of the underworld!
Joy unto you, children of sorrow ! Joy unto
you, sons of f orgetf ulness ! Joy unto all
beings!"

They passed out of the garden together,
the musician and the soul.

THROUGH PJNI3

THE STRANGE LITTLE GIRL 13
III

Westward they traveled, westward, ever
westward. The way was dark and some
times dreary, and Eline felt like one awak
ened from a beautiful dream before it was
ended.

Through the pine forests, over mountains,
in deep valleys, and by mighty streams they
traveled. Ever they had the harp to cheer
the way, to urge their footsteps onward.
For the path was untrodden where they
went.

" There is a path/' the harper said, " a
pleasant path and broad, but the journey is
long and we must hasten on our way. To
the setting sun, to the gleaming sea, we
must go; nor may we seek a beaten track
lest we be too late."

A river there was in whose waters were
reflected pictures of all that surrounded
them — such crystal clear reflections that
sometimes it seemed as if they looked at

14

THE STRANGE LITTLE GIRL

real things in the water
mirrored in the things
around them.

And on the waters
grew beautiful lotus-
flowers, lilies with cup-
shaped leaves. In the
blue and white petals
of the lotus also there
seemed to be reflec
tions, so clear were
they. The musician
plucked one of the cup-
like lily-pads and rilled
it with the water for
Eline.

The still surface of
the water shone like
silver in its green cup
as Eline held it. Then
the musician played.
Soft and low and sweet
were the notes of that

THE STRANGE LITTLE GIRL 15

wonderful harp. Scarcely they rippled the
surface of the water, and yet they vibrated,
trembled, spread, until picture after picture
came to the surface of the water in colors
of every hue.

Scarcely may it be told what Eline saw in
the magic cup in the water of remembrance.
She seemed to see herself — and yet another
— in picture after picture. Now she saw
herself as part of a golden sea of selves
which made but one self, so lifelike were
they, so glorious was their unity. Then in
life after life Eline seemed to see her other
selves living and loving and working, sleep
ing and suffering and struggling. She saw
that on a day she had made her great resolve
to help the world. " I will return ! I will !
I will!"

And now she knew what things they were
she had seemed to remember in the king's
garden of delight. Joyously, eagerly, will
ingly, she saw that she had determined to
return to earth in body after body, to help

16 THE STRANGE LITTLE GIRL

the men of sorrow who struggled and slum
bered and suffered. She saw that she had
before so done; that her work remained
unfinished, to be begun again where she had
laid it down. There was suffering shown
to her in the cup; there were sorrow and
grief and pain. But she saw that it must
all be, and was content. For at other times
she had desired just such things that she
might know how others felt them, that she
might help them the more with understand
ing. Happiness she had taken to give to
others, and she must repay the debt. She
saw that all things were just, and when the
musician said in a low voice:

" Will you yet proceed ? "

"I will!" she said.

" Then drink the cup," he said, " Drink! "

She drained the green cup of the lotus
leaf until scarcely a drop remained, and with
that draught she forgot all things that had
been — the garden, the king, the journey

THE STRANGE LITTLE GIRL 19

and the vision, and the master harper — all
were forgotten. Only there remained a dim
remembrance as of a dream at dawn for
gotten.

IV

A little ship stood by the shore of the
great sea; into this Eline entered. There
were other ships, some better, some worse.
But somehow she knew that just this, and
not another, was the ship she wanted, and
none questioned her when she entered.

So they sailed away towards the setting
sun.

Long was the voyage and lonely ; for the
seas ran high and all was dark below in the
heart of the ship. Nine months they sailed
on the ocean, until in the time appointed
land appeared. Strange dwellings were
there, domes and spires and crowded cities.
With wide, wondering eyes Eline watched

20 THE STRANGE LITTLE GIRL

them as the ship passed them by in strange
procession; for the men of that land were
like none she knew; none of these things
could she remember. For she had forgotten
even her name at the river of forgetfulness,
where remembrances are left in the mirror
of the waters until time and their creator
bring them back to life.

It seemed as though one of wise and
kindly countenance held her as a little child
in his arms and whispered softly, " Remem
ber! I will return! I will! I will!" A
light of happy recollection came to her and
she smiled in reply. He had spoken in her
own language as the harp had spoken, and
strangely, strangely she seemed to see in
him the harper whose music had told her
of the sorrowful land beyond the sunset.
For this moment, she remembered, and then
the thought departed.

At first the air seemed heavy and oppres
sive to the wanderer; but by degrees she
grew accustomed to it and even, in time,

THE STRANGE LITTLE GIRL 23

scarcely felt it. Yet ever and again a dim
remembrance of brighter, purer skies came
to her. She spoke of this more than once;
but others only laughed and said: "The
child is dreaming! "

Because she was no longer dressed in
shining garments, they did not know her
for the princess she really was. Indeed,
she was no way different from those around
her but that at heart she was still the daugh
ter of the king. They could not see her
heart — this they could not know. And
seeing that they did not understand, she
said no more of the thoughts that came to
her. They called it dreaming; but Eline
thought that if this were so, a dream were
better than a waking life — unless —

Could these be thoughts that came to her
of the world beyond the water, the reflection
of the real life? She knew not.

" We must teach this little dreamer what
is life ! " they said. " She will not know

24 THE STRANGE LITTLE GIRL

what life is if we leave her to her dreams."

They made her work and made her play:
work that never seemed to do anyone any
good, and play that seemed like work. She
nearly forgot that in what they called her
dreams she had ever known of another life.

Sometimes she sang to herself, strange
songs that they said sounded sad and sor
rowful, yet of a sweetness all their own.

" Where does she hear them ? " people
asked.

But Eline never told. For the truth was
that they came to her in moments when her
thoughts were far away, dreaming.

" She sings like a bird in a cage that
knows of a brighter world outside," said
one. But he was a poet, so they only smiled
as if they themselves would have made the
same remark if it had not been so fanciful.

And though men thought her sad and
lonely, there was joy to her in the hum of
the bees and the song of the birds and the

THE STRANGE LITTLE GIRL 25

rustling of the leaves. The butterflies and
the flowers and the brooks were her friends.

" What a strange child/' people said when
they heard her talking to these friends.
They did not know of the stories her friends
told her, stories which reminded her of a
wonderful garden of delight where men did
not ever stare and stare in gaping wonder
because a little child talked with the fairies
that live in all things beautiful, clothed in
robes of sunlight and rainbow hues.

They would have taken her away from
these friends but for one old man, her
grandfather, who said:

" The child will be better for the fresh
air. Let her live while she may."

So it was that she played and talked with
the flowers and sang to the brooks and lis
tened to the stories of the forest trees that
whispered among themselves. None dared
take her away.

One day she had been for a long ramble

26 THE STRANGE LITTLE GIRL

by a mighty river, and the sun had sunk
to the westward on its journey; but she
turned not to the place she called her home.
Tired and worn out with her play, she lay
on a rock and slept.

In her sleep it seemed that a touch upon
her forehead awakened in her a vision of
things she once had known, but had now
almost forgotten. There was the king's gar
den and the palace, and the other wonderful
buildings, tall and stately — mighty build
ings which seemed to speak of mighty build
ers, noble thoughts and great men's deeds.
Some were even more stately, some more
humble, than the palace. But in all there
was a sense of grander, nobler life than the
life those knew who were with her now,
and who, laughing, called her a dreamer.

And she heard a voice repeating, " I will
return! I will! I will!"

Again she smiled as she recognized the
voice. A feeling of intense happiness and

THE STRANGE LITTLE GIRL 29

content came to her and she — awoke.
More than ever it seemed as if that other
were the real life, and this a heavy dream.

V

The twilight glow still lingered in the
west and the evening breeze called her to
thoughts of home.

But she had learned wisdom, and when
they asked her where she had been, Eline
said she had fallen asleep in the sunshine
on a rock by the great river. Which was
true.

Of her dream she said nothing to any
except to the old man who alone seemed to
understand her a little. He did not laugh,
but looked with thoughtful eyes intent, into
the distance, away to the starlit sky, and it
seemed to her that he also was trying to
remember a forgotten dream of life. And
seeing this she put her hand in his trusting-

30 THE STRANGE LITTLE GIRL

ly, and they two knew well each other's
thoughts though never a word was spoken.

It seemed to the old man that the child
was leading him along a familiar road to a
home forgotten — after many weary days
of wandering.

" There are some things the heart can
say that words can never tell," he said to
himself when she was gone. " I think we
understand one another."

As time passed by Eline came to know
more and more of that other life and she
longed to tell these things to the people who
struggled and surged in hot strife to win
the things of the world they knew, never
thinking that there was a happier, purer,
brighter world. Some thought they knew
of such a one; but all except a few made
it seem like the one in which they lived —
only they made it a little more bright by
day, a little more dark by night, and with
a little more success in the strife for the

THE STRANGE LITTLE GIRL 31

things that change and pass away. These
she would tell of the nobler life she knew,
but they listened not at all.

In due time Eline was sent to school to
learn. But her teachers found little that
she did not quickly understand. For one
thing she remembered now plainly, how in
the garden of delight everything that was
done was well done — were it the telling
of a story or the singing of a song or the
watering of the flowers that grew in that
fair land. All was done with a wonderful
thoroughness, and Eline now felt that she
must do all things in that way or leave them
quite alone. But often they would teach
Eline things about which she seemed to care
little and to understand as one in a dream.
Then they would call her attention to the
work only to find that she was learning to
understand a great deal more than they
themselves could tell. It was so with num
bers. When they asked her what the num
bers were by name, she not only named

32 THE STRANGE LITTLE GIRL

them all but told them why they were so
named and what each meant. And so with
music. With every chord she seemed to see
harmonies of color, like beautiful pictures
too glorious to paint. And when she said
that life itself to her was music, Kline's
teachers did not understand.

One said : " She has learned these things
before in another life."

Another declared : " She sees the heart
of things where we see only the outer cover
ing. She sees the soul, we the body."

Perhaps they both were right.

But many gave other reasons for these
things and all of them were gravely dis
cussed. But curiously enough, the two who
gave the reasons I have told, were laughed
at and told that such things could not be.
So they said little about their thoughts be
cause, like all those who are sure that they
know the truth, they could afford to wait
until their words were proved to be right.

THE STRANGE LITTLE GIRL 33

VI

At first Eline longed to tell the world of
better things. She would gladly have told
the world of the glorious masonry of those
noble cities which she saw in her visions —
cities where men and women moved like
gods; where sorrow and want and selfish
ness seemed to be unknown. She longed to
tell them of the harmonies which came to
her of music which might stir a dead world
to life, thrilling all nature into blossoms and
fruits in abundance, as the music of a water
fall seems to send life into the flowers which
grow beside. She would have told them of
the colors with which nature loves to paint
the sky, the mountains and valleys, sea and
land, when all is ready for the master's
work. For nature paints wherever the can
vas is prepared to receive the picture, and
she asks no price for her work. Eline knew
of times in the past — times that will come
again — when man did not ever strive to

34 THE STRANGE LITTLE GIRL

be rich regardless of his poorer brothers,
but each worked as he was able, all work-
ing for the whole world's good. And she
would have told them how in those times
man did not earn his living by toil unend
ing, by ceaseless pain and sorrow, but that
nature helped him as he helped her, and the
earth brought out her stores of rich fruits
for the welfare of her upgrown sons, well
knowing that they in turn with loving ser
vice would seek to make nobler and better
that which nature gave to them in charge,
birds and beasts, flowers and trees, plants
and stones and all that lives — which is
everything.

Eline saw how the desire to possess more
than enough, for the selfish pleasure of say
ing, " It is mine ! " — how the growth of
selfishness in the world; the love of killing
nature's younger sons for food and pleasure
increased; how the love of ease and forget-
fulness of others and of duty to mother
nature — how all these things had chilled

THE STRANGE LITTLE GIRL 35

the warmth of the one great life that is in
all things, and crippled the mother's efforts
to help her wayward sons.

Others had told these things ; others had
striven to show the glorious light of life
that shines behind the cold mist of sin and
sorrow which has been cast like a veil over
the earth; but all had been rejected. Some
were ill-received; some were stoned; some
were killed.

" How can I raise this humanity which
like a great orphan has cut itself off from
its mother and now lies ignorant of the
happiness that awaits its coming? " thought
Eline. " I have returned to tell them of
the way, and they will not hear. Others
have returned as far as they might and
have been rejected. Others still have boldly
plunged deeper yet in the hot sea of human
life and have been lost in its poisonous
fumes. Even so, I will again return, yet
lower, if by chance there be a few who will
not reject my message/'

36 THE STRANGE LITTLE GIRL

VII

So Eline hid in her heart the things she
knew and the things she would have told,
as she had hidden in her soul at the river
of forgetfulness the memory of the king's
garden of delight. And she took her way
into the world with messages of love and
of hope, such simple messages as the child
ren understood, better sometimes than their
elders. She told the children many beauti
ful fairy stories and they listened eagerly.
They did not know that these were the
stories which she had told to the learned
ones of the earth and which were really
true, though they had not believed.

The children listened, and they said : " It
is beautiful. Some day we will seek out
such a beautiful world as that of which the
stories tell."

There were houses, too, which they built
— little toy houses with toy bricks. But
Eline showed them how to shape the bricks

THE STRANGE LITTLE GIRL 39

and how to make each brick fit in its proper
place so that never a one shoulcf lose its
worth. And Eline showed the children how
that behind the building of beautiful man
sions there was the beautiful thought that
made the masonry so noble a work, though
it were only toy masonry. And the children
understood.

In their games they had done each his
best and they did well. But Eline showed
them games in which they all acted together,
even the little ones helping and sharing. It
was wonderful to them that they had not
thought of this before, because now they
found that they could do more than ever
they had done when each worked alone and
for himself.

Near the city where they dwelt was a
vast plain full of great boulders, which they
could have made into a great park and a
beautiful garden; but the people of the city
cared not for such things and would not
help them. By themselves they knew not

40 THE STRANGE LITTLE GIRL

how to move the rocks. So it remained a
waste of wild growth, except in those places
where the children had moved one by one,
and with great difficulty, the smaller stones.

Now Eline bid them take a strong rope.
" For/' said she, " we will clear that plain,
and it shall be for a dwelling and a garden
for all." She was thinking of the king's
garden.

The children looked at her in astonish
ment as though they wondered if she meant
the thing she said.

" We have no rope," they said, " and none
will give us any."

" There is your rope," said Eline, point
ing out the overgrown plain, where, amid
the rocks in the great patches from which
they had slowly and painfully drawn the
smaller stones, grew masses of pale blue
flowers, beautiful, delicate little blossoms,
like wind-flowers.

Again the children looked at her, ques-

THE STRANGE LITTLE GIRL 41

tioningly ; not as the peo
ple at first had done, but
trustingly, though they
knew not what she would
have them do, but sought
to learn her wishes.

So at her bidding they
gathered all the ripened
stalks of the little flowers
and laid them out in the
sun as she directed.

Almost it seemed a
pity to destroy the plants.
One little worker asked
Eline of this matter for
he loved the flowers and
was sorry to see them
gathered and dried.

" Does it not hurt the
flowers to pluck them?"
he asked. " Some say
that you can talk with

42 THE STRANGE LITTLE GIRL

them as with all living things, and you can
tell if the flowers do not suffer in the gather
ing, although they are old and ripe."

His was a loving heart and Eline saw
that he asked this out of no mere curiosity.
Gently she touched his forehead with her
finger.

" Look! " she said. " Look and listen, for
I have opened the seeing eye to you/7

VIII

And the boy looked around in wonder
ment, amazed, and saw that the whole great
plain was full of teeming life which he had
not before seen. Fairies and elves peeped
from every flower, gnomes and earthmen
worked and played and danced among the
boulders. And where before was silence
but for the rustling of the leaves in the
breeze, there rose a murmur of many voices,
like the humming of bees in the sunshine.

THE STRANGE LITTLE GIRL 43

The boy listened and at once he knew what
the flowers were whispering.

" There is a saying that the flax-people
are being used for a mighty work," said
one little blue fairy to another.

" I heard a bee spreading the news," said
another. "All the flax-people are asked to
give their dresses to help in clearing the
plain for a palace and a garden where kings
may dwell — not kings of earth and of little
cities, but kings of wisdom whom nature
loves to obey, and we among her children."

" Body after body have I grown," said
the other. " I have struggled and striven
to grow useful in this glorious brotherhood
of nature, and my only success seems to
be that I have a pretty head. It is good
to be beautiful, perhaps, but I have always
thought that I would sacrifice my beauty
for a chance of sharing in noble deeds."

A butterfly that had stopped to listen
now spoke to her:

44 THE STRANGE LITTLE GIRL

( You have waited and now you will have
your reward. For surely your body will be
taken to help in the work that is going for
ward. The flax-people have indeed lived to
good purpose."

' They certainly do not seem afraid to
die," said the boy to himself.

And as if in answer to his whispered
thought the little flax-fairy said:

"Of course we are not afraid! I have
been told that there are giants of men who
really think that when they leave their worn-
out stalks — bodies they call them — behind,
they live no more, or at least are not sure
what becomes of themselves. But it can
not be true — it must be a fairy story ! "
laughed the little elf. " They must know,
as we know, that all things sleep awhile and
then take new bodies like dresses woven
while they worked in Their last awaking
which men call life. And then one day we
know that we shall have woven dresses so

THE STRANGE LITTLE GIRL 45

fine that we shall be free to leave them as
the butterfly leaves his dull-hued robes and
spreads his bright wings for flight into the
grand unknown which we all long to know."

" But how do you know that these things
are so ? " asked the boy.

" How do I know that I am alive? " an
swered the flax-fairy in a murmur. Faint
er grew the voices and the vision faded
from the boy's sight.

He knew not how long it was he stayed
there, but after awhile he awoke with a
start to find that Eline was no longer with
him, and that he had slept among the flax
in the sunshine.

IX

" It must have been a dream ! " he said.
But he did not believe it was a dream —
for all his words. And really the flowers
seemed to him to bear a new life after that

46 THE STRANGE LITTLE GIRL

wonderful vision which came to him when
Eline gave him for an hour the seeing eye.

Working with the others joyfully and
happily without a moment's pause or one
thought of failure, they saw quickly grow
ing an immense heap of beautiful fine white
thread. The children had helped the flax to
grow and now in turn it aided them to clear
more ground.

For in no long time all was finished and
before them they had a mighty rope grow
ing greater every day under their Leader's
eye.

One strange thing there was about the
rope. For there were golden threads inter
woven which the children did not remember
having seen among the flax. And they
wondered.

But Eline only said " It is golden flax."

•.*
Whatever it was, it shone brightly in

the sun until it looked like a ray of real sun
light in the rope.

*sm

MAKING ROPIC

THE STRANGE LITTLE GIRL 49

One little child said:

" It looks like a brother to the sun ! "

" Perhaps it is," said Eline, and smiled.

The work grew apace. And the play grew
apace, because the children scarcely knew
which was work and which was play. They
seemed to have found something better than
both. Stone after stone, rock after rock,
was encircled with the cord and triumphant
ly drawn by that merry army of children to
the edge of the plain. Clearer and clearer
grew the space. Where before the stones
had been, little pools of water formed, while
round them grew masses of beautiful flow
ers, among which was a new crop of the
little blue flax, stronger and better grown
than any that had been there before. Grad
ually there grew up a great wall of rock
around the plain where the boulders were
drawn by the children, for each was taken
to its nearest boundary, as Eline told them
this would be the simplest way to clear the
plain.

50 THE STRANGE LITTLE GIRL

Some mighty rocks yet remained in the
center of the plain but the children had so
seen the wisdom of their leader that they
doubted not that these too would be removed
without difficulty, although how this was to
be done they could not tell.

And as the work was nearing an end they
did as their Leader bid them in perfect trust.
Actually they put their ropes around a rock
which some said was like a small mountain.
They pulled with a will, but the rock moved
not.

Still they pulled willingly and with all
their might, for now they had grown strong
until they scarcely knew their own powers.

From the great city, from the mountains,
and from the country round about, came
sightseers and inquirers. At first they only
laughed and talked, and helped not at all.
But among them came men of strange coun
tenance, strong men, wise in looks, men of
kingly bearing.

THE STRANGE LITTLE GIRL 53

These said : " It is not right that these
children should work for ever alone/'

And they too, with strong grip of a
strange sort, laid hold of the golden ropes,
seeing which, the idlers too came and helped
until with a mighty song of joy the children
saw the great rock move, slowly at first,
then faster, faster, until with a run they
had placed it in a far corner of the great
plain, standing like a sentinel to the North.

X

Another and yet others followed. East
and South and West the unhewn boulders
stood like guardians of the plain. A circle
of twelve yet remained in the center, like
giant pillars supporting the sky. But these
Eline said should stand, as also some small
er ones which were placed across their tops
like great beams resting upon a doorway.

54 THE STRANGE LITTLE GIRL

How this was done I cannot say; but there
is a saying in the city that, in the night
before they were found placed high above
the giant circle, the sound of a great and
joyous song, a hymn of power, was heard
like the tones of a great bell shaking the
houses with its vibrations and putting men
in fear of the destruction of their city. But
at sunset the children had not returned from
the plain, so that they were not in the city
when this happened. And not until the sun
rise did the people flock to the doors and
windows for a glimpse of the joyous army
that marched in their streets. Led by the
men of kingly bearing the children marched,
singing a song of triumph, with such shin
ing glory in their faces that all the people
marveled.

Tired they were, and slept; but when in
the late noontide the people asked them what
had happened, all seemed like the forgotten
glory of a dream. They could remember
little except that they were filled with the

THE STRANGE LITTLE GIRL 55

joy of wonderful things which no tongue
could tell.

The work had not taken one day, or two,
but many days. Months and even years had
passed since the children played together in
the sunshine. Strong and sturdy lads and
lasses were they now. A beautiful temple
had arisen within the giant circle, and all
around it was a garden of beauty like no
garden which they had seen.

But when Eline looked amid the rare
flowers and found a little purple star with
heart of gold, she knew that it was a flower
from the king's garden, and she was glad
that it could grow where all was rock be
fore. There were great purple pansies, too,
like thoughts from the palace in which Eline
had lived.

Now it was that the children came to the
temple to learn of Eline, and she taught
them the wonderful truths which she knew;
to them she told the wonderful things that
have been and the more wonderful things

56 THE STRANGE LITTLE GIRL

that may be, if men will only try to bring
them about.

She taught them things so simple that
they often wondered why they had not al
ready known them without the telling. They
did not know that there was a good reason
why it should be so. Eline taught them, too,
how by all working together for the welfare
and progress of all, there is no task we may
not overcome.

" We know it," said the children, remem
bering the waste of rocks in the plain where
now the garden stood and the temple.

" Each by himself can do much, but all
working together can move the world," she
said. " Now I will tell you a strange thing,
which is yet true. For we are not at all
separate from any other thing in the world,
but the same nature is in us as in them —
in the rocks and the flowers, in the forests
and streams, in city and mountain, in air
and fire and water, just as the rocks and

THE STRANGE LITTLE GIRL 57

this temple are of the same stone, although
they differ in shape. And if we only will,
we can make all our rocks into beautiful,
glorious temples.

" When the world of men has learned
this lesson the earth itself will become a
mighty temple, that the wise teachers of old,
whom men call gods, may come to us again
and live with us in peace for evermore.

"And it shall be known that music is life,
for in music is harmony, and by harmony
all things live, each note in its own place,
doing its perfect work, be it great or small.
For this too is a brotherhood of harmony."

Because in those days the people listened
to the teachings from the temple and to the
great ones who came to dwell therein when
it was finished, and who taught the seekers
after truth, through their messenger Eline,
there were happiness and joy and peace in
all the land. Men became nobler as they
thought of nobler things than had hitherto
been their custom.

58 THE STRANGE LITTLE GIRL

Seeing the beauty of the temple and the
mighty work that comes of aiding nature,
working in unity and harmony, they also
built their houses to be like the temple.
Stone they used for brick, beautiful they
built them within and without, and they
labored to make their dwellings fit temples
for the gods. For it was said among them
that sometimes strangers would visit their
city, and seeking entrance, would dwell with
them awhile where they found a welcome.
And it was noticed that always they came
to such dwellings as those where the beauty
and harmony of the building showed beauty
and harmony within. And when they left
the house, always there seemed to remain a
memory of their presence as a ray of light
at sunset leaves a memory of joyous days
and a sense of hope for brighter days yet
to come.

When this thing happened the neighbors
would gather together and it was said:

" The Master has built the house."

THE STRANGE LITTLE GIRL 59

Then the great beam which rested on the
pillars of the doors was lifted and where it
had stood was built an arch of stone. And
last of all was dropped in place the keystone
which held the arch, and there was great
rejoicing, for the people said : " The house
is finished." Some there were who would
have lifted the beam and built the arch, but
unless the Master had been in the house,
always some accident would occur and the
house be destroyed.

In the center of the arch was placed a
great light which was ever kept burning,
for it was fed with oil of gold which never
burns away, but whose smoke ever turns to
oil again. Each light was like the greater
light which ever shone from the dome of
the temple, a light to lighten all around,
such light as it was said went out to the
world from the temple itself in the know
ledge of the laws of life and of all things
good and great and beautiful. Never was
the light to be put out, lest harm should

60 THE STRANGE LITTLE GIRL

come. Day and night it was held a sacred
duty to guard the light.

When that light shone there was peace
and plenty in the land, for fellowship made
life joyful. Some called that glorious time
the Golden Age; some there are even now
among us who will to bring that golden age
again to earth as then, through brotherhood
and the joy of life, that misery shall not
always be among us, nor poverty, sorrow,
and pain.

XI

But there came a day when messengers
from far off lands came over sea a great
journey to the temple. And to Eline they
told the despair and want and the madness
of unbrotherliness that men knew in the
countries whence they came, countries where
the light shone no longer. Of wars and of

THE STRANGE LITTLE GIRL 63

famines they spoke, of poverty, oppression,
and crime.

Kline's great compassion could not be
silent to appeal. " From these things, I say
Humanity SHAU, be saved ! " said she. " I
have a duty here, but there are guardians in
the Temple, and the call comes loud to me
from the world beyond. I will go ! "

Those messengers heard with joy of the
success of their journey, for they had trav
eled far and had overcome many trials and
difficulties by the way. And all the time
they had hoped in perfect faith that they
would return with some encouragement to
the country whence they came. And doubt
less it was because of the grand faith they
showed that Eline herself answered their
call.

" Guard well the temple while I am away,"
Eline charged her people. " I must travel
far, but in no long time I will return ! — • I
will return! Be watchful, therefore, that

64 THE STRANGE LITTLE GIRL

the light be burning, that the oil fade not.
None can tell the time of the coming, whe
ther it be by night or day. With your lives
must you guard the light ! "

She spoke somewhat sadly as it seemed
to them, and they supposed she thought of
the great misery and need of those she went
to succor in their distress.

And they answered the more eagerly:
"We will! We will!"

For the first time since it had been built
the temple was left without its head — a
sacred trust indeed.

They thought they knew themselves ; they
thought they knew the evil in their natures,
and the good, did those temple watchers.

And in their surety of knowing they grew
careless, so that in no long time they lost
their caution. Some there were who were
faithless, and these began to tell them of
their great success ; how they had built the

THE STRANGE LITTLE GIRL 65

temple; how their industry and labor had
succeeded; how well they had learned to
know themselves. Gently they suggested
these things, gently these sayings took root,
almost unperceived.

" Our temple which we have built is very
mighty. It can never fall/' they said.

Some few there were who would have
spoken for Eline, but they were timid and
afraid of those who talked so boastfully.
Wherefore they were silent. It is true that
one or two attempted to recall the noble
deeds of the absent one, and to point out
that she had really built the temple; they
had supplied only the labor; yet the fruits
of it were theirs and the world's.

"True," said the wicked and faithless
ones, "she had a great mind for building;
but she made mistakes. She herself said so.
We have learned by those mistakes and we
know. She would have made the temple
teachings too common altogether. Why, she

66 THE STRANGE LITTLE GIRL

actually began to turn into a teacher of vir
tues of which the world is weary, instead of
building as at first. She had taught all she
knew, but we can teach greater things, and
better things ; we can teach the world twenty
different styles of building in metals, wood,
stone, and marble ; of ornaments and decor
ations enough to last for a century. Thus
we honor her; thus we carry on her work
and make it grow — although she made mis
takes."

" Indeed she did make mistakes/7 said
one, "and the greatest mistake of all was
when she chose such faithless craftsmen for
the temple work. Shame on you ! "

" O faithful one ! " said they. " Such faith
deserves a great reward. To you we will
entrust the duty of finding her. We will
give you all you need for the voyage — a
ship and provisions enough for a year ! "

ADRIFT ON THE: SE;A

THE STRANGE LITTLE GIRL 69

XII

So those treacherous ones cast adrift on
the ocean the one who remained faithful.
And those others who would have spoken
out for their absent Teacher were silenced
against their own better natures. For those
wicked ones had been great among them,
and they were afraid.

It was thought that in no long time the
winds and the waves would destroy the little
ship with its lonely voyager ; yet with stout
heart, knowing that he might not return
alone, he held on fearless and determined.
Sometimes it seems that those who so follow
the voice of their inner wisdom in dauntless
courage are helped by nature, as though she
ever loves such brave hearts. I have heard
the story told how the great Columbus who
found a new world was beset by his follow
ers to return. How nature sent him mes
sages that he was nearing land — birds and
driftwood, branches of trees and floating

70 THE STRANGE LITTLE GIRL

weed. He read the message with the eyes
of one who loves all nature well, and prom
ised sight of land to his men in three days,
a promise that was fulfilled.

So it was that the little ship with the one
who remained faithful did a greater work
than ever those desired who sent it.

Slowly, slowly, in the Temple, it came
about that the guardians forgot their duty,
forgot that they were there to guard the
temple in sacred trust for humanity; and
as the wicked ones among them wished, they
busied themselves about many things; but
not the one thing needful, the welfare and
the progress of mankind.

How can the tale be told? A tale that is
new, yet old — old beyond count of years.

For the enemies of the world, with whom
those wicked ones were leagued, came sud
denly by night, when the sacred lamp which
sent rays of hope over the great ocean was
allowed to flicker and to go out. And those

THE STRANGE LITTLE GIRL 71

enemies destroyed the temple so that scarce
ly one stone remained upon another. And
with it were destroyed those weak ones who
failed in their trust. All perished and with
them perished for a time the Light of the
World.

XIII

It is said, how truly I know not, that
beneath the foundation pillars of the temple
was wisely prepared by Eline a vault, a vast
cave wherein were hidden the most sacred
records of the temple and the sacred secret
name which they had forgotten.

To her over the sea came the knowledge
of the faithless guard, and in her agony she
called upon that sacred name if by chance
the temple should be saved.

In days of old men knew that there is a
power in words, a power now forgotten.
Stories there are which tell of city walls fall-

72 THE STRANGE LITTLE GIRL

ing at a trumpet blast, of cities rising as if
by magic at a word, of mighty doors thrown
open, of nature spellbound by a song, of
mighty names the jinns and genii of the
desert obey.

And this sacred name was such a one as
these; for with its whispering a mighty
thrill passed out over the world and the
foundations of the sea were shaken. Vast
continents were destroyed, and men said the
world was at an end. Terrible was the
time, but Eline knew that it was better so;
for the remnant of the living might one day
restore the ancient glory of that land. But
had it been that the land remained, those
wicked ones would have lived and worked
to destroy the whole world so that not even
a remnant should be left in the bosom of the
waters to re-people the earth.

After many days, tossed and beaten by
the waves, the little ship with the outcast
faithful one came drifting to the land where
Eline was.

THE STRANGE LITTLE GIRL 73

The winds and the sea conspired, as it
seemed, to urge the ship on her voyage, and
the dwellers of the ocean pointed the way,
watchful ever and untiring in their duty.
Small as it was, and ill-found, Eline chose
this ship for her return, and once again she
came to the place where the temple had
stood — she and that faithful one.

She gazed on the ruins of that sacred
spot and sadly looked at the tops of the
mighty pillars just rising above the waves
of the sea which at times filled the arches
in between so that no man might pass be
neath.

Unseen guards there were, Eline knew,
guards who would keep that spot free for
future generations of a world to come.
Water-nymphs, sea-sprites, and earth-gob
lins, undines, gnomes, and sylphs dwelt there
as sentinels of a sacred trust, and Eline was
content to go.

" For/7 she said, " the secret vault of the

74 THE STRANGE LITTLE GIRL

sacred name yet stands intact until these
same faithless ones shall come again, puri
fied by many wanderings and trials, and
shall again guard that new-old temple with
me. That time they shall not fail!"

And a ray of glorious hope shone in her
face as she left the ruined temple.

"I will return!" she said. "I will re
turn!"

I WIU, RETURN

THIS BOOK IS DUE ON THE LAST DATE
STAMPED BELOW

AN INITIAL FINE OF 25 CENTS

WILL BE ASSESSED FOR FAILURE TO RETURN
THIS BOOK ON THE DATE DUE. THE PENALTY
WILL INCREASE TO SO CENTS ON THE FOURTH
DAY AND TO $1.OO ON THE SEVENTH DAY
OVERDUE.

NOVgfMl

LD 21-100?n-12, '43 (8796s)

YC 15719
15720

679895

UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY